Talking video games

ABSTRACT

Talking video games can provide simulated voice dialog between human players and animated characters on a TV screen. Two or more players can take turns responding to animated characters and two or more animated characters can respond to each player and to each other, thereby providing three-way or four-way conversations. Pictures and voices are generated from digital data separately stored on a laser-readable disk such as a CD-ROM in compressed form. As the game is played each animated character talks to the human game players and waits for a response. Each player has a hand-held controller that displays two or more phrases or sentences and a player responds by pressing a button next to a selected phrase. An animated character then responds to the selected phrase as if it had been spoken by the human player. Speech recognition is not required. Each scene branches to two or more subsequent scenes. But within each scene there are several branching dialog sequences, thereby providing a large variety of possible dialogs. Human game players are thus given an illusion of having dialogs with interesting people, either living, historical or imaginary and with animal-like characters on a TV screen as an active participant in adventures and dramas with these characters. Additionally, human game players can utilize the hand held controllers to select the voice dialog between game characters, thus controlling conversations held between game characters during the game.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/614,843,filed Nov. 14, 1990, now abandoned.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to video games, animated cartoons, andpicture/sound synchronization.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

We are all born with a desire to talk and to be talked to. Most of usfind talking a pleasant experience and we do it more often for pleasurethan for necessity. Listening to other people talk and thereby sharingtheir emotional experiences is also a desire we are born with and thisdesire has been exploited in motion picture film and television in whichvoice sounds are now essential. But until recently, voice sounds wereseldom used in video games or were used as an optional gimmick to add alittle realism to the game, rather than to simulate dialog. The largeamount of memory required for good quality voice sounds has made voiceimpractical for home video games, until recently. But now lower memoryprices and digital disks such as the CD-ROM and compression techniqueshave made talking video games practical.

But adding voice sounds to conventional video games is not enough tosimulate a face to face voice conversation. A talking video game calledThayer's Quest was attempted in 1984 and was played from an analoglaser-readable video disc. One of the reasons for the commercial failureof Thayer's Quest was that each spoken sentence was programmed toaccompany only one sequence of video frames. Since the video was notcompressed, the maximum amount of play time was limited to about half anhour which was further reduced to a fraction of that by the branchingstory. Hence, only a few minutes of voice sounds were actually heardduring the game. Whenever a human player saw a certain video character,the character always spoke the same words. This greatly reduced theentertainment value of the game. Another consequence of programming theaudio and video to be inseparable, was that branching scenes were notdistinguished from branching dialog. Human players were able to navigatethrough a maze of roads, but the game play did not feel like aconversational dialog. It was more like "Which road do you want to takenext: (1) or (2) or (3)? Make your selection." Talking video games willbe much more entertaining if each scene has a rich variety of possibledialog sequences.

Talking video games are disclosed in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,305,131;4,333,152; 4,445,187 and 4,569,026.

Another problem in the prior art is how to prevent a combinatorialexplosion, i.e. an exponential increase of scenes if each branchbranches, and each of those branch, etc. If branches did not merge orloop, the limited amount of bytes on the CD-ROM would be quicklyexhausted after less than a dozen branches. Branches should usuallymerge with other branches or loop back to prior scenes. But this doesnot mean that repeated scenes should play exactly the same each time.Each time a scene is repeated there should be different dialog and/ordifferent characters. Successful games of the past have made use of arich variety of possible plays against a simple repetitive background.Chess has been popular for centuries with only a very basic checkeredbackground. Pac-Man did quite well even though it had only a simplebackground maze. Recent video games also make use of a repetitivebackground. The reason these games have high play value is the largevariety of possible plays and sequences of plays in each situation. Andso it should be with talking video games.

It is common practice in the video game art for stories to branch. It isalso common practice for digital data of animated characters to bestored separately from background scenery and to generate each frame ofan animated picture from both the background data and the character datato minimize the number of stored images.

It is a well known for human players to input choices using any of avariety of input devices such as push buttons, rotatable knobs, pressuresensitive membrane, proximity sensitive pads or screen overlay, lightpen, light sensitive gun, joy stick, mouse, track ball, moving a cursoror crosshairs or scrolling through highlighted options, speechrecognition, etc.

In the prior art, each choice by the human can be immediately followedby a synthesized voice or digitized voice recording that speaks thewords selected by the human player, so the human will quickly adjust tothe fact that the spoken words he hears for his side of the dialog areinitiated by his fingers rather than his vocal cords.

The characters in video games and computer games, especiallyrole-playing games, are of two types: player-controlled characters (orplayer characters) and non-player characters. A player-ccontrolledcharacter is a human player's animated counterpart and does what thehuman player chooses to have him do. Non-player characters do only theirpre-programmed actions and speak their fixed speeches and are notdirectly controlled by a human player. However, non-player characterscan be indirectly influenced by a human player, either by responding toan action selected by the human or be responding to what aplayer-controlled character does or says.

The prior art also includes methods for generating video images ofmoving lips and facial expressions on a talking head or other animatedcharacter. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,972 issued Dec. 5, 189to Elon Gasper who contemplates use in video games.

The film and television industries already address the human desire towatch and listen to important and interesting people. But there is alsoa basic human desire that people respond to us as individuals. Noindustry yet satisfies this desire that important people reply to us asindividuals. Although the telephone provides a partial satisfaction ofour desire to talk with other people, it is necessarily limited toliving people who are willing to talk with us. Historical and imaginarypeople cannot talk with us and famous living people don't want to.Hence, there is is a strong but unfulfilled human desire waiting to besatisfied by new technology.

Often an illusion is as satisfying as a real experience, as any TVviewer knows. When you watch people on TV, what you are actuallywatching are little flickering dots of colored light from a chemicallycoated sheet of glass. The voice sounds you hear are from a vibratingcone of paper. That is reality. The rest of your experience is illusion.But it is an illusion that everyone wants to experience and will gladlypay money for. The desire to talk with interesting, charismatic andfamous people is also strong and millions of people will be satisfiedwith an illusion of such conversations.

Talking video games (talkies) will change the nature of video games asdramatically as talking pictures changed silent film. Talkies will letusers chat with images of famous people (living or historical orimaginary) and with animal-like characters, and participate in simulatedadventures and dramas with interesting characters who talk to eachplayer responsively. The conversations will be one-sided, of course,with the on-screen characters doing most of the talking. But talkiesthat stir human emotions like dramatic films will have lasting appeal,because they will satisfy a basic human desire, the desire to talk withother people.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This is a video game which takes the form of a branching story thatsimulates dialog between two or more animated characters on a TV screenand two or more human game players, thus simulating three-way orfour-way dialog. Each character can be an animated cartoon, digitizedlive action, analog live action, a sprite or the like, and be playercontrolled or not.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an animated cartoon talking game with two humanplayers who take turns selecting words to say to one or two animatedcharacters on a TV screen who then respond to the words. Subtitles onthe TV screen tell each player what is being said by the other player.

FIG. 2 illustrates an animated talking game with one human player andtwo animated cartoon characters on a TV screen who talk to the human andto each other.

FIG. 3 is an animated cartoon illustrating a kissing scene in which onecharacter's unspoken thoughts are sounded.

FIG. 4 is an animated cartoon illustrating a ledge-hanging scene inwhich a talking cartoon character requires immediate action by the humanplayer.

FIG. 5 is an animated sequence illustrating branching dialog in whichtwo cartoon characters respond to sentences selected by a human playerby talking to the human player and to each other.

FIG. 6 is an animated sequence illustrating branching dialog in whichone animated character responds to a sentence selected by a human playerand refers to a second character (not shown).

FIG. 7 is an animated sequence showing hands simulating the hands of ahuman player performing an action.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating scene branching and dialogbranching within each scene.

FIG. 9 is a pictorial view of a video game system having a CD-ROM discdrive connected to a TV set or video monitor with auxilary devices fordisplaying prompting words.

EXAMPLES OF GAME DIALOG

Each scene branches to two or more subsequent scenes, but there is alsoa second level of branching dialog within each scene. Referring to FIG.6 as an example:

The animated character looks at you anxiously from the TV screen. In thebackground is a burning car. The character yells to you "My mother'strapped in the car. I can't get her out. She's going to die." You theplayer can choose either:

(1) "I've got a fire extinguisher in my car. I'll get it." or

(2) "I've got a chain in my car, We can pull the door off." Either waythe character replys "Ok, but do it quick! "and a few seconds lateryells "Faster ! Faster ! Do something!"

Then, depending on your selection, the character is shown using a fireextinguisher or using a chain to pull the car door open. Or (see FIG. 7)hands reach up from the bottom of the TV screen to simulate the hands ofa human player helping the animated character.

The next time you encounter this situation the character has beenmodified to seem like a different person. His/her personality isdifferent. His/her voice and face are different (chosen by the systemfrom a catalog of voices and faces). The burning car is a differentcolor. And the dialog has changed. The character cries "Please help me.There's a little boy trapped in the car. I can't get the door open." Youcan choose either:

(1) "Loop this chain through the door. I'll hook it to my car." or

(2) "Use this pipe to pry the door open." Either way the character yells"Hold on We'll get you out!"

Then, depending on your selection, the character is shown using a pipeor chain to pull open the car door. In either case the fire flares upand the character yells: "It's not working. Do something! Do something!"You can choose to say:

(1) "Keep trying It's almost open." or

(2) "It's stuck. Pull harder--Harder!" or

(3) "Too late. It's going to explode."

Note that there are two kinds of branching in each of the abovesequences. The plea for help scene branches to the fire extinguisherscene or the pipe scene But there is also branching in the dialog withineach scene. Dialog branching does not require different animation dataexcept in mouth and body movements, but it adds intimate involvement inthe dialog that scene branching cannot provide. If each scene has a richdialog it requires much less video data than if each dialog branchrequired different video data.

Repeatedly showing the same background and characters with differentdialog will expand the limited capacity of a CD-ROM disk into a largenumber of different story lines. Having the same background appear againand again is acceptable if a variety of talking characters do and saydifferent things against that background.

For a human player to know how to respond, the alternative choices canbe communicated to him in different ways:

1. by displaying a menu of words or phrases or icons, either on the TVscreen or on an auxiliary display, giving alternative things to say to anon-player character or alternative things a player-controlled characterwill say;

3. by a talking character giving the alternatives verbally, by asking aquestion or by suggesting alternatives;

3. by a talking character showing the alternatives by holding a chain inone hand and a prybar in the other, for example;

4. by one talking character making a remark to a second talkingcharacter (either on-screen or off-screen);

A simulated voice dialog within each scene that does not require speechrecognition can be of several different kinds:

1. spoken voice from animated character, then push-button response fromplayer, then voice from animated character responding as if he had beenspoken

2. spoken voice from animated character, then push-button response fromplayer, then voice response from game (in a different voice) to simulatethe player's side of the conversation, then voice from animatedcharacter responding as if he had been spoken to;

3. spoken voice from animated character, then push-button response fromplayer, then voice from one animated character talking to a secondanimated character in the same scene responding to the push-buttonresponse;

4. spoken voice from first animated character speaking to a secondanimated character, then push-button response from player, then voicefrom the second character speaking the words selected by the player orresponding to them;

6. spoken voice from animated character, then push-button response froma first player, then echo voice from the game system (in a voicedifferent from character) so that a second player can hear what thefirst player has "said", then voice from the animated characterresponding to the first player's input, then push-button response from asecond player, then echo voice response from game to simulate secondplayer's side of the conversation so that the first player can hear whatthe second player has "said";

7. spoken voice from animated character, then push-button response froma first player, then sub-titles on TV screen so that a second player cansee what the first player has "said", then voice from an animatedcharacter responding to the first player's sub-titles, then push-buttonresponse from the second player, then sub-titles to simulate secondplayer's side of the conversation so that the first player can see whatthe second player has "said".

A similar dialog would follow in the same scene or in the next scenewith different words. By definition, each scene change involves asubstantial change in background or a change to another full-screencharacter and hence requires substantially different video (not just lipmovements or showing the same background at different views or angles).Each scene should have several exchanges of dialog which require onlyminimal video changes such as head and lip movements. The video (bothbackground and characters) may be rapidly changing and these changes maybe the same every time a scene is repeated. But the voice sounds shouldbe different and characters should say different things each time ascene is repeated.

Player-controlled characters say whatever the human player chooses tohave them say, but non-player characters should also be programmed tosay many different alternative things depending on what a player orplayer-controlled character has just "said". A scene may loop a dozentimes with a non-player character saying something different each timeand the alternative responses for each human player being different eachtime around the loop.

Menus showing two or three or four phrases to say are better than theold keyword-keyword method used in many role-playing games because menusdo not force each player to guess about what can said. Guessing is finefor puzzle games, but is quite disrupting in role-playing games. Trialand error slows down the pace of the game, especially for other players,and weakens or destroys the suspense and emotional involvement thatcaptivates a game player.

Hand-held display units are preferable to displaying menus on the TVscreen, because in two-person games the menu displayed to one player maybe different from the other player's menu. Part of the fun comes fromnot knowing what choices the other player has. Also, TV screen menusdisrupt the illusion that a player is talking with a real TV character.Hence, the preferred embodiment of my invention makes use of hand-heldmenu display units with one push-button for each menu item and echovoices to avoid sub-titles on the TV screen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment of this invention a video gamesystem displays on a TV screen 11 an animated picture sequence to twohuman game players. Human players 10 and 12 take turns selecting aphrase or sentence to "say" to a character or characters on a TV screenwho then talk back responsively. In this example it is player 10's turn.Player 12's hand-held controller is blank, indicating that she cannotsay anything at this moment. The TV screen shows two animated characterstraveling in a boat or other vehicle. The characters are talkingnon-player characters, i.e. players can "talk" to the characters whowill then talk back, but players cannot put words in their mouth, inthis example. Each human player holds a hand-held controller with threepush buttons next to a liquid-crystal display 13, shown enlarged in FIG.1 for clarity.

As the boat scene begins, the video game system displays two or three ormore alternative responses on display 13 or TV screen or other displaydevice. While player 10 is deciding which button to press, a linkingpicture sequence (not shown) continues to show the same boat scene withone character looking back from the boat as if looking at player 10standing on the dock. Player 10 selects one of the displayed responses(in this example "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?") which is then echoed as voicesounds or is displayed as sub-titles on the TV screen so that player 12will know what player 10 has just said to an animated character. Thischaracter 18 answers responsively with voice sounds: "TO THE ISLAND."after which a second character responds with "WE'LL BE THERE AN HOUR."in response to what character 18 just said. Using incomplete sentencesin each animated character's voice leads human players to pay attentionto the echo voice or sub-titles. In the preferred embodiment the gamesystem generates a voice to echo the words selected by player 10 so thatplayer 12 hears what player 10 has "said" to the animated character.When it is player 12's turn, player 12's hand-held display will thenshow alternative words (not shown in FIG. 1) that she can "say" inresponse to what animated character 17 or 18 has said. Thus a three-wayor four-way dialog can be simulated.

When alternative words or other verbal expressions are shown on LCDdisplay 13, the words may be blinked a few times or display 13 may beflashed by alternating black and white a few times to attract a player'sattention and prompt him to make a choice. Or a small light-emittingdiode may be blinked on and off a few times as a prompting signal.

Before each game begins, display 13 may show identifying information foreach player-controlled character so that each human player may selectwhich character he or she wants to play. Alternatively, eachplayer-controlled character may be shown on TV screen 11 and thequestion asked "Who wants to play this character?" for each charactershown. The game system then records which hand-held controller respondsso that later that character's words to say will be shown on display 13only for the player who is playing that character (in this exampleplayer 10). A human player may also choose to play a player-controlledcharacter that need not always be on the TV screen, but who may beoff-screen <standing on the dock in FIG. 1), and can carry on a dialogwith on-screen characters. Each echo voice is the voice of aplayer-controlled character.

Referring to FIG. 2, in another embodiment of the invention, a videogame system generates for display on a TV screen 11 an animated picturesequence having two or more animated talking characters 17 and 18. Inthis example, character 17 is a player-controlled character that humanplayer 12 controls. Player 12 plays the role of character 17 and cantalk to character 18 and other characters in the game through character17. Player 12 holds a hand-held controller with three push buttons nextto a liquid-crystal display 13, shown enlarged in FIG. 2 for clarity.The game system displays three alternative responses on display 13.Player 12 selects one of the displayed responses (in this example "KISSME AGAIN") with push button 14. Echo voice sounds 15 for character 17then say the words selected from display 13. The words are directed atcharacter 18 whose voice sounds 16 then respond to character 17.

The two animated characters 17 and 18 may respond in reverse sequence,that is, the non-player character 18 may say his line first so that theplayer-controlled character 17 can respond as ordered by human player12. For example, after player 12 selects "KISS ME AGAIN", character 18may say "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?" a prerequisite sentence that is notone of the displayed alternatives, then character 17 can respond with"KISS ME AGAIN" which is responsive to what character 18 has just said.Such reversals can make the dialog seem more spontaneous.

Echo voices or sub-titles may also be used to express unspoken thoughtsor the thoughts of non-speaking beings such as babies or animals, orinanimate objects such as a thinking rock. Cloud balloon 19 representsan unspoken thought of character 18 in FIG. 2 which is sounded (withmouth not moving) in response to spoken sentence 15 of character 17.Voice sounds for unspoken thoughts may be electronically altered toindicate to players that a voice is not a normal spoken voice. Forexample, unspoken thoughts can be given a hollow or tremulous sound or awhispering sound by electronically or digitally editing voice sound databefore converting to audio.

Referring to FIG. 3, when characters 17 and 18 perform a competitive orcooperative activity such as kissing, one of the characters may speak(with moving mouth) or think unspoken thoughts (sounded with unmoving orunsynchronized mouth) as in cloud balloon 29, responsive to the actionbeing shown or to what was said or done in the prior sequence shown inFIG. 2 or in response to a phrase selected from display 13.

Referring to FIG. 4, in another embodiment of this invention a videogame system generates for display on a TV screen an animated picturesequence showing a character hanging by his fingers from a ledge on theoutside of a building. His friends on the roof have thrown him a ropewhich is not long enough to reach the FIG. 4 character. Thisledge-hanging situation sets up the next scene shown in FIG. 5 in whichtwo animated characters exchange dialog with one or two human playersand with each other regarding the FIG. 4 character.

Referring to FIG. 5, picture sequences 21, 25, and 28 are parts of oneroof scene in which two talking characters discuss how to rescue thecharacter in FIG. 4. One or two human players participate in theconversation by "saying" words or phrases or sentences to the animatedcharacters who then answer responsively and ask questions or makeremarks that lead to the next input by a player. The alternatives shownon display 22 are suggested solutions to the problem posed in sentence20. When the human player 10 presses button 14 next to "Call emergency",one of the characters responds by asking question 23 to the othercharacter who responds with question 24 directed at the human player.Question 24 is also accompanied by alternative actions 26. When a playerpresses the button next to "Slide down the rope", a character commentson this choice of action with sentence 27 in sequence 28. Thus asimulated verbal dialog can continue through several exchanges of wordswithin the same scene.

Referring to FIG. 6, in another embodiment of this invention a videogame system generates for display on a TV screen an animated picturesequence 31 and 32. The picture sequence has one scene showing a burningcar in the background and a frightened woman 17 in the foreground.During part 31 of the sequence the woman's voice 15 says "Please helpme! My mother's trapped in the car!" The game then displays two or morealternative responses on hand-held display 13 or on the TV screen orother display device. The human player 10 selects one of the displayedresponses (such as "Pry the door open") and presses the correspondingpush button 14 or equivalent. While the player is deciding which buttonto press, a linking picture sequence (not shown) continues to show thesame scene with the woman looking anxiously at the player. When theplayer selects a response, part 32 of the animated sequence continuesshowing the same burning car scene with the woman's voice 16 answeringresponsively, for example: "I tried to, but I can't get it open" as at16.

Selecting a response by pushing a button 14 can result in a change to adifferent scene, but in this FIG. 6 example the scene remains the sameand only the dialog changes. Each of the three alternative responses ondisplay 13 will result in a different answer by animated character 17.The animated sequences 31 and 32 are generated by the video game systemby overlaying three moving pictures: (1) the background sequence showingthe burning car with flames continually flickering, (2) a sprite ormosaic of sprites showing the woman character 17 moving in a naturalmanner against the background (This motion can be the same regardless ofthe dialog) and (3) mouth and other facial sprites selected (by tablelookup) by the game system to be approximately lip-synchronized withvoice sounds 15 and 16.

Since the player's response time is variable, sequence 31 or 32 with aclosed mouth sprite should cycle continually until a button 14 responseis made or until a time limit is reached, at which time a promptingpicture sequence with words such as "Hurry! Hurry!" may be sounded anddisplayed with moving mouth sprites. The burning car can be any objectsuch as a damaged bus, airplane, boat, or building that provides adanger situation.

Referring to FIG. 7, the game system generates for display on the TVscreen an animated sequence showing one or more hands 36 simulating thehands of a human player performing an action. In this example, animatedsequence 33 shows a hand holding pipe 35 or a fire extinguisher or othersuch tool while the human player whose real hand 10 is illustratedpressing button 14 next to display 13 selects one of the alternativeactions shown on display 13. Note that display 13 in FIG. 7 showsalternative actions which would result in scene changes, but display 13in FIG. 6 shows alternative words or phrases to say to animatedcharacter 17 in a common scene. In FIG. 7, pressing button 14 to select"Pry the door open" results in picture sequence 34 showing hands 36prying open the car door with pipe 35.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 8 illustrates the distinction betweenbranching dialog and branching scenes. For example, in scene 64 branchpoint 60 is displayed to the player showing two alternative verbalresponses 61 or 62. Either verbal response results in a different answerfrom an animated character, but not a scene change. However, thealternatives at branch point 63 will result in a scene change, either toscene 65 or to scene 66. Branch point 62 may result in either a scenechange to scene 67 or a dialog branch depending on a player's choice.

Referring to FIG. 9, video game system 42 is connected by cables to a TVset 11 or video monitor and to one or more hand-held control units 44and 47 or portable game system 46, each having three push buttons 14next to a liquid-crystal display 13. Infra-red or radio signals may beused instead of cables. System 42 includes a disk reader that readsdigital data from a CD-ROM disk 43, or write-once disk or card or othermedium containing digital data from which system 42 generates animatedpicture sequences, compressed audio for voice and other sounds,synchronizing data, and words to display on units 44, 46 and 47.Portable game system 46 with appropriate ROM program cartridge maysubstitute for units 44 and 47. Cable 45 connects game system 42 todisplay unit 44, 46 or 47 and transmits alternative prompting words orother verbal expressions for display on displays 13. Cable 45 alsotransmits push-button 14 responses to system 42.

If portable game system 46 has only one or two available push-buttons,selection from among responses shown on display 13 may be done as shownin FIG. 7 by pressing push-button 14 multiple times to position apointer 49, cursor, or other such indicator next to (or on) a selectedsentence.

To allow each background scene to be used with different animatedcharacters who can move around against the background scene, the digitalanimation data for the background scene should be stored separately fromthe digital animation data for each character. Similarly, to allow eachcharacter to say many different sentences without a scene change, thedigitized voice data should be independent of the animation data. In thepreferred embodiment, animated character video, voice sound sequencesand prompting word sequences are generated independently from separatelystored digital data. Dialog data that is not used in one scene may beused later in a different scene with the same or different characters.The voice data may consist of sequences of codes or compressed digitalrecordings of words, phrases, word segments or phonemes in severaldistinctive voices so that each character can speak thousands ofpreprogrammed words or sentences. Similarly, the digital data for eachanimated character's body may be stored separately from sprite data formoving lips, facial expressions, and gestures, so that each characterand its distinctive voice can be lip-synchronized with different mouthmovements depending on which branch the dialog takes. The digital datafor each animated character may also combine body, lips, expressions,gestures and voice sounds.

When a human player presses a button 14 (FIG. 2, 5, 6, or 7), the gamesystem may generate a voice sound speaking the selected sentence as asubstitute for the player's side of the dialog. The animated characterthen "responds" as if the generated voice sounds had been spoken by thehuman player. Because the player selects the words Which are actuallysounded, he will quickly adjust to the fact that the spoken words hehears for his side of the dialog are initiated by his fingers ratherthan his vocal cords. This echo voice is important for games withmultiple human players so that each player will hear what each of theother players has "said" to on-screen characters. Pushing a button 14selects both a simulated verbal response to the previous words spoken byan animated character and also selects a new dialog sequence thatcorresponds to the simulated verbal response shown on display 13. Theselected dialog sequence includes the face and voice of the animatedcharacter speaking words which are responsive to the player's selectedverbal response.

Alternatively, sub-titles such as illustrated on TV screen 11 in FIG. 1may be used instead of echo voices and be displayed on a TV screen or ona hand-held display unit as a substitute for the player's side of thedialog. Digitized live action picture sequences are equivalent toanimated cartoon picture sequences for this invention. The term "verbalexpression" means any word, words, phrase, sentence, question,expletive, curse, keyword, combination huh?" or "hmmm" or laughter orscream. The word kissing is used herein to mean simulated touching ofone animated character's mouth to another animated character's mouth orother body part.

Although I have described the preferred embodiments of my invention witha degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosurehas been made only by way of example and that equivalent steps andcomponents may be substituted and design details changed withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:
 1. A method of electronically simulating voice conversationsbetween at least two talking animated characters, the words of onecharacter being selected by a human player, comprising the steps of:(a)digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least twotalking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing aplurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b)digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a firstanimated character and a second animated character, each branchcomprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generatinga video signal representing an image of said first and second charactersfor display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-held controllerapparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions,each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from saidhand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a selectedverbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, therebyselecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from saidcatalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to saidselected verbal expression of the voice of said first character; (g)generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representingthe voice of said first character speaking said selected verbalexpression; (h) digitally reading from said catalog of voices secondvoice sound data for the voice of said second character speaking theverbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of thedialog; (i) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound datarepresenting the voice of said second character; and (j) displaying onsaid hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternativelyselectable verbal expressions that follows next for said first characterin the selected branch of the dialog.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinone of said characters is shown hugging or kissing the other character.3. The method of claim 1, wherein said hand-held controller is aportable game system with program cartridge.
 4. A method ofelectronically simulating voice conversations between at least twotalking animated characters, the words of one character being selectedby a human player, comprising the steps of:(a) digitally storing acatalog of distinctive voices for at least two talking characters, eachin the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences,phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing apreprogrammed branching dialog between a first animated character and asecond animated character, each branch comprising a plurality ofalternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signalrepresenting an image of said first and second characters for display ona video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-held controller apparatus afirst set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, eachcorresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from saidhand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a selectedverbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, therebyselecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from saidcatalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to saidselected verbal expression for the voice of said first character; (g)generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representingthe voice of said first character speaking said selected verbalexpression; (h) changing said video signal to indicate that the firstcharacter is speaking to the second character; (i) digitally readingfrom said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice ofsaid second character speaking the verbal expression that follows nextin the selected branch of the dialog; (j) generating an audio signalfrom said second voice sound data representing the voice of said secondcharacter; (k) changing said video signal to indicate that the secondcharacter is speaking to the first character; and (l) displaying readingfrom said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice ofsaid second character speaking the verbal expression that follows nextin the selected branch of the dialog; (j) generating an audio signalfrom said second voice sound data representing the voice of said secondcharacter; (k) changing said video signal to indicate that the secondcharacter is speaking to the first character; and (l) displaying on saidhand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectableverbal expressions that follow next for said first character in theselected branch of the dialog.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein saidvideo signal is changed to show moving lips on the face of the firstcharacter when said audio signal is generated from said first voicesound data; and wherein said video signal is changed to show moving lipson the face of the second character when said audio signal is generatedfrom said second voice sound data.
 6. The method of claim 5, whereinsaid moving lips are lip-synchronized with the corresponding voices insaid audio signal.
 7. The method of claim 4, further comprising the stepof altering either or both of said audio signals so that the signalindicates unspoken thoughts of an on-screen character.
 8. A method ofelectronically simulating voice conversations between at least twoon-screen talking animated characters and an off-screen talkingcharacter, comprising the steps of:(a) digitally storing a catalog ofdistinctive voices for at least three talking characters, each in theform of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases,word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammedbranching dialog between a first on-screen character and a secondon-screen character and an off-screen character, each branch comprisinga plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a videosignal representing an image of said first and second on-screencharacters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-heldcontroller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbalexpressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e)receiving from said hand-held controller a manually initiated signalrepresenting a selected verbal expression in said first set of verbalexpressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitallyreading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data thatcorresponds to said selected verbal expression for the voice of saidoff-screen character; (g) generating an audio signal from said firstvoice sound data representing the voice of said off-screen characterspeaking said selected verbal expression; (h) digitally reading fromsaid catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of saidfirst on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that followsnext in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) generating an audiosignal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of saidfirst on-screen character; (j) digitally reading from said catalog ofvoices third voice sound data for the voice of said second on-screencharacter speaking the verbal expression that follows next in theselected branch of the dialog; (k) generating an audio signal from saidthird voice sound data representing the voice of said second on-screencharacter; and (l) displaying on said hand-held controller apparatus asecond set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that followsnext for said off-screen character in the selected branch of the dialog.9. The method of claim 8, wherein said video signal is changed toindicate which of said on-screen characters is speaking.
 10. The methodof claim 9, wherein said video signal is changed to show moving lips onthe face of said first on-screen character when said audio signal isgenerated from said second voice sound data and to show moving lips onthe face of said second on-screen character when said audio signal isgenerated from said third voice sound data.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein said moving lips are lip-synchronized with the correspondingvoices in said audio signal.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein saidhand-held controller is a portable game system with program cartridge.13. The method of claim 8, wherein said selected verbal expression forsaid off-screen character is displayed on said video screen.
 14. Themethod of claim 8, wherein one of said characters is shown hugging orkissing the other character.
 15. A method of electronically simulatingvoice conversations between at least two talking animated characters,the words of the characters being selected by two corresponding humanplayers, comprising the steps of:(a) digitally storing a catalog ofdistinctive voices for at least two talking characters, each in the formof voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, wordsegments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branchingdialog between a first animated character and a second animatedcharacter, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbalexpressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of saidfirst and second characters for display on a video screen; (d)displaying on a first hand-held controller apparatus a first set ofalternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to abranch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said first hand-heldcontroller a manually initiated signal representing a first selectedverbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, therebyselecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from saidcatalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said firstselected verbal expression for the voice of said first character; (g)generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representingthe voice of said first character speaking said first selected verbalexpression; (h) displaying on a second hand-held controller apparatus asecond set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that followsnext for said second character in the selected branch of the dialog; (i)receiving from said second hand-held controller a manually initiatedsignal representing a second selected verbal expression in said secondset of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a next branch in thedialog; (j) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voicesound data that corresponds to said second selected verbal expressionfor the voice of said second character; and (k) generating an audiosignal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of saidsecond character speaking said second selected verbal expression.
 16. Amethod of electronically simulating voice conversations between at leasttwo on-screen talking animated characters and two off-screen talkingcharacters, comprising the steps of:(a) digitally storing a catalog ofdistinctive voices for at least four talking characters, each in theform of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases,word segments o phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammedbranching dialog between a first on-screen character and a secondon-screen character and a first off-screen character and a secondoff-screen character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternativeverbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an imageof said first and second on-screen characters for display on a videoscreen; (d) displaying on a first hand-held controller apparatus a firstset of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each correspondingto a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said first hand-heldcontroller a manually initiated signal representing a first selectedverbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, therebyselecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from saidcatalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said firstselected verbal expression for the voice of said first off-screencharacter; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sounddata representing the voice of said first off-screen character speakingsaid first selected verbal expression; (h) digitally reading from saidcatalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said firston-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next inthe selected branch of the dialog; (i) generating an audio signal fromsaid second voice sound data representing the voice of said firston-screen character; (j) displaying on a second hand-held controllerapparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressionsthat follows next for said second off-screen character in the selectedbranch of the dialog. (k) receiving from said second hand-heldcontroller a manually initiated signal representing a second selectedverbal expression in said second set of verbal expressions, therebyselecting a next branch in the dialog; (l) digitally reading from saidcatalog of voices third voice sound data that corresponds to said secondselected verbal expression for the voice of said second off-screencharacter; (m) generating an audio signal from said third voice sounddata representing the voice of said second off-screen character speakingsaid second selected verbal expression; (n) digitally reading from saidcatalog of voices fourth voice sound data for the voice of said secondon-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next inthe selected branch of the dialog; and (o) generating an audio signalfrom said fourth voice sound data representing the voice of said secondon-screen character.